Following the announcement of the postponement of IFTM until next year, and the disaster of 2020 for the tourism sector, we went to interview the sector’s most optimistic decision-maker: Frédéric Lorin. IFTM is the most eagerly awaited BtoB event every year, and for good reason: it’s a must-attend event for everyone, it drives new business, in short, it’s vital to the sector.
The postponement of the IFTM is even harder for the organizing teams, who, after the stress of a turbulent year, have to resign themselves to postponing it until the following year. But in the midst of all this, Frédéric, who needs no introduction (but we’ll ask him just in case), knows how to find the right words to express his emotions and his vision of the future of our market.

Could you introduce yourself and your role in the tourism industry through IFTM?

What are IFTM Top Resa’s mission and objectives?

I’ve been Frédéric Lorin, General Manager of IFTM Top Resa for the past 4 years.

As you know, this has been our industry’s flagship show for over 40 years.
My role at IFTM is clearly to ensure that, year after year, the show is the most exhaustive possible showcase of the market in all its components and evolutions.
It is the primary mission of a leading trade show to be at the cutting edge and on the lookout for emerging trends.
This requires agility, dynamism and a shared vision on the part of myself and my teams.
The second part of my role – and I hope to fulfill it well – is to embody the show and be its best ambassador to all the market players I know well.

IFTM postponed until next year, looking forward to IFTM 2021?

As you’ve seen, it all happened in two episodes.
In April, we were all fairly confident of even a modest recovery, but a recovery nonetheless at the time of deconfinement, so to be on the safe side, I postponed the show from September to November, all the more so as 94% of customers surveyed were strongly in favor of holding the show.
The second episode was that the recovery, albeit timid, failed to materialize, as the impossibility of traveling became widespread with the closure of many borders, and the pandemic took off again.
Holding the show at all costs under these conditions became unreasonable, and I felt I had a duty of responsibility, transparency and loyalty to my market by not taking our exhibitors to a show that would not have lived up to their expectations this year.
But it’s only a postponement, because I’m convinced that IFTM 2021 will be the long-awaited opportunity for everyone to get together and do business, I was going to say … FINALLY.

What’s planned to replace IFTM 2020?

Despite the postponement of the show, I believe it is very important, not to say fundamental, to continue to communicate with our community, and to regularly bring them information and content such as conferences and training modules on both leisure and business travel… The digital tools we have all used extensively during this period will enable us to digitalize a number of things in this spirit. We are currently in the process of developing this digital device, which we will unveil very shortly… Work in Progress!

What is your vision for the tourism industry in the months ahead?

I’m definitely one of the die-hard optimists.
I can’t help it, I’m built that way.
Being an optimist at the moment is certainly a lot more complicated than usual, because the crisis we’re going through is historically unparalleled.
To be optimistic at this time may make you look delusional or naive in the eyes of some, but I still believe that the tourism industry will recover.
Because even if the blast this time is obviously stronger than the last, we’ll get back on our feet.

Probably wounded, probably dented, probably damaged, but we’ll get back on our feet, because our beautiful travel industry has always demonstrated its extreme resistance, its formidable resilience and its ability to renew itself to find new paths.
What is not born will kill the desire to travel…

The final word?

“As much as blissful optimism, i.e. inactivity, is foolishness, optimism, the companion of effort, is legitimate and effective”.